Today in Robotics — Friday, September 18, 2026
Happy Friday from RobotCafe, where the theme is flying things that shouldn't quite work — birotors becoming quadrotors, maple-seed drones, and a robot bound for the ISS. We've also got FDA news from the colonoscopy front, seabed-mapping vessels, and a healthy dose of introspection about whether AI can actually build robots and whether any of this is sustainable.
- 01 Video Friday: Two Birotors Make a Quadrotor
The weekly video roundup leads with a clever bit of aerial arithmetic, pairing two birotors into a functioning quadrotor for your Friday viewing.
Read at source ↗ - 02 Neptune Medical earns FDA clearance for its Triton 1 robotic system
FDA clearance means Neptune's Triton 1 can now assist endoscopists with routine colonoscopies, a reminder that robotic gains often come in unglamorous but high-volume procedures.
Read at source ↗ - 03 Icarus Robotics flies ISS-bound robot in microgravity for the first time
JOY passed its first microgravity flight, the last big hurdle before Icarus sends the robot to the ISS in early 2027.
Read at source ↗ - 04 The clock is ticking: Final 24 hours to exhibit at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
Today's the deadline for robotics startups wanting a table in front of Disrupt's crowd of founders and investors this October.
Read at source ↗ - 05 Maple-seed-inspired robot flies more accurately with predictive control
With just one moving part, this maple-seed-inspired flyer is fiendishly hard to steer — predictive control is what finally makes it fly precisely.
Read at source ↗ - 06 Open-source benchmark tests whether AI agents can engineer working robots
As coding agents automate software, this open-source benchmark asks the harder question: can AI actually engineer robots that work?
Read at source ↗ - 07 US to deploy 2,877-mile-range vessels to map Atlantic seabed for submarine navigation
Saildrone's $10M Navy contract puts long-range uncrewed vessels to work charting the Atlantic seabed for submarine navigation.
Read at source ↗ - 08 Reimagining robotics for sustainability
A solar-installing robot made from costly materials and heavy batteries raises the uncomfortable question of whether our machines are as green as the work they do.
Read at source ↗
The RobotCafe digest — five minutes, the whole field.